samb413

Last year when I was on my cruise, I injured my shoulder/arm. I had a large brush burn on my shoulder from tubing earlier in the day. I also had bad sunburn, and when it was paired with brush burn while tubing, it wasn't pretty. My skin was raw and couldn't be exposed. Even the slightest brush of clothing was very painful. I didn't want to visit the MD onboard because 1. I didn't want to pay $150 for the visit and 2. My dad is a nurse and could take care of the wound without issue. We were forced to pay $50 for two large bandages and tape.

Lesson learned: Add bandages to the first aid kit and save $50.

My family and I are thinking about doing a trip to Italy next summer and cruising to Croatia and Greece. I am a little worried because it is a small ship. We have been on Allure, Adventure and Liberty. We much prefer the larger ships. Will the ship make much of a difference or is the destination really key here?

I had some GI problems on the July 2 cruise on Allure. They left a paper in our stateroom on the final night telling us that GI problems had been reported ship wide and to please fill out the survey indicating if we were impacted. Did it ruin my trip? No but it was a bit annoying.

So I am going on my first RCCL cruise on the Allure in September, as all my previous cruises have been on Carnival. Does RCCl do anything like the Movies under the stars at night or show newer movies like Carnival? Just wondering, its a nice and relaxing thing to do.

 

Second, what are the deck parties like?

Since Allure has the aquatheater, they do movies under the stars at the aqua theater. Other Royal ships do it at the pools. I just got off Allure and from what I remember they played the following movies: Lala Land, power rangers, The Founder, Moana. I forget the rest

So I'll start by saying I had a fantastic time aboard Allure of the Seas with my family. This was our third cruise, all were with Royal. We have previously sailed on Liberty of the Seas and Adventure of the Seas.

I sailed with my parents, siblings, boyfriend, aunt&uncle and cousin, so we had a nice size group. We all arrived in Ft. Lauderdale 1-3 days prior to the cruise. My family stayed at the Pelican Grand Beach Resort. Rooms were VERY spacious. Two King size beds and a separate sitting room with a couch/TV. We had a large shared balcony with other vacationers on floor two overlooking the ocean (Rooms on floor 2 and up had small, private balconies). Resort was somewhat dated but was renovated. We had two rooms and neither of the rooms had the updated decor that was featured in pictures on website (not a big deal). My only complaint is that the room lacked proper lighting, felt like I was showering in the dark:eek:. Beach was very nice. Pool was on the small side but it was fine. Lazy river was also smaller than anticipated but was a nice feature. Food was overpriced and just mediocre. We went to Aruba Beach Cafe in Ft. Lauderdale for dinner, food and drink was good.

Allure:

Ship is MASSIVE!! I don't think we will ever sail below Oasis class again! It truly is amazing! We had rooms ranging from an inside cabin to grand suite. My room was 12329--- balcony overlooking the boardwalk and aquatheater. LOVED my room. These rooms are highly sought after and often need to be booked a year in advance. They are a prime location because they overlook the aquatheater where shows are, but you also get an aft ocean view. Room was rocky on night one, but that was due to a storm. Other than that, we loved the room. It was about $200 cheaper than my parents ocean view balcony room and they had wished they booked a room like ours after seeing ours. I highly recommend booking a room like this. Only negative is that it is a longer walk to the lobby/elevator due to its location-- but it was well worth it. Bed was positioned in back of room, nearest to the balcony...which made the room seem very spacious.

Labadee, Haiti:

We were lucky enough to get a hilltop cabana to enjoy the day. It was AMAZING. I highly recommend booking one if you get the chance. We had to walk a short distance from the cabana to the steps in order to reach the water but it was okay. Steps are steep. We shared the stairs with two other cabanas but never saw the other guests really. Water was beautiful. We were at Labadee on our first cruise and this experience far surpassed our initial experience on Labadee. It was beautiful and relaxing.

My boyfriend and I did the zipline and I'm glad we did! It was a once in a lifetime experience. Very fun. We also did the aquapark with my cousin. It was fun but was a lot of work physically. A few of us got "rug-burn" when sliding down the slides that I guess were not wet enough. It was not pleasant. But we had a great time and laughed hysterically as we struggled to climb up the slides.

The BBQ lunch was very good. It was somewhat of a long wait to get our food but we had no complaints about the food itself. Hot dogs, hamburgers, grilled chicken, ribs, shrimp, scallops, rice, fresh fruit, cookies.

Falmouth, Jamaica:

After extensive research we booked a private tour with Peat Taylor tours. We booked the "Cool blue hole, dunn's river falls and river tubing" excursion. It was an all day excursion. The ship arrived into port 60-90minutes late bc we had to stop to help a vessel in distress overnight. Unfortunately this put a damper on our already very busy day. I felt somewhat rushed during the entire excursion due to the amount of stops we had to make and how we now had 90 min less time to get everything done. From the ship to cool blue hole it took almost 2 hours to reach :(:(. This was the farthest location and so the guide wanted to go there first. There was a lot of traffic that day and three ships were in port so each stop was very crowded.:( $100 pp, $95 per child (big discount huh:'))

Cool Blue Hole: Was a neat, fresh water hole...considered by many to be a "hidden gem" in Jamaica. It was crowded due to the number of ships in port. It was somewhat strenuous in nature. WEAR WATER SHOES. It was a little dangerous as you are climbing rocks that are slippery and have water flowing down them. Guide was phenomenal. He made sure to guide us all to safety, hold our hands when needed and direct us how to walk/which way to walk. We jumped from various heights into the water below. There is also a rope swing where you can swing into the water. This was cut short for us because we needed to get to the next location.

River Tubing: This was a great experience! You carry your own tube to the river down below. A group of about 30-35 people travel down the river with you, as 5-6 guides tube with you. The guides are there to make sure everyone travels together and remains safe during the ride. They will give you an extra boost if you are straggling behind or make sure you don't hit the river bank/trees/rocks. They were VERY GOOD at keeping an eye on everyone and swooping in to make sure everyone was safe. EVERYONE in my group enjoyed this excursion. It was exhilarating and relaxing at the same time.

Dunn's River Falls: I did this when I was in elementary school but didn't remember much of it. It was strenuous. All but 2 of my group climbed to the top. Guide was very good in watching the entire group and making sure we were safe throughout the climb. It was difficult and scary at times but I'm glad we did it. It was a great experience. Guide was excellent with my 8y/o cousin and making sure she was safe throughout the climb. If you ever felt that you needed to stop you could exit at any time to the stairs on the left.

My only complaint about this private excursion is that they did not provide any food/lunch break. They had beer/water/soda available for sale but that is it. It was an ALL DAY excursion that was very adventurous in nature. I feel that they should have offered food/snack due to the length of the excursion and price. They wanted to stop for dinner at the end of the trip (7 hrs into the excursion).

Cozumel, Mexico: We booked a private excursion through Mystic Snorkeling. Cuchi was our snorkel guide and he was fantastic. The boat captain was also great--- I forget his name at the moment. They provided life jackets, snorkel masks and flippers. We went to three different locations and had ample time at each. Cuchi gave us options and let us decide where we wanted to go due to choppy seas. There were plenty of fish to sea! He was great with spotting them and calling us over to see. He also took many pictures with his underwater camera and sent us the pictures a day or two later. Pictures were GREAT. They provided beer, water, soda and fresh fruit for us to enjoy. I would highly recommend this excursion. It was $60 pp I believe.

Again the ship was magnificent. We loved the boardwalk, central park and extra food options available on Allure. Boardwalk hotdogs were surprisingly really good!! Central park cafe was a nice breakfast/snack spot. There were many "hidden gems" on this ship in terms of food options. Plenty of options you could dine at that many others did not even know about (for breakfast and lunch). Windjammer was very good. We did MTD at American Icon but visited the windjammer for a light snack during dinner hours on two nights. I was very surprised at the food selections. Cheese spread was amazing.

Service was top notch all the way around, as always.

The only thing I felt was missing from this ship was some of the smaller game shows. Unless I missed them, I did enjoy that on Liberty and didn't see it too much here on Allure. I saw a "Dancing with the Stripes" show on Liberty where guests paired up with crew members and danced in a "dancing with the stars" style competition. Do they still do this show? It was probably the best show I have ever seen and I only saw it that one time. Maybe bc it's a bigger ship but I don't feel that I got to know the activities staff as I did on the other ships. Mitch was cruise director was good, but Dru was by far the best (had him on liberty).

Overall we had a great time!! Any questions, please just ask!

Where is the best beach on Labadee? Last year we were on the beach that the zipline runs above...we didn't like it too much. it was very rocky. I heard there are nicer areas to hang out and spend the day... Any recommendations?

Do Uber. My family is doing Uber from our hotel to Allure next week. IF you have never used it you can find a promo code to get a free or discounted ride.

Just talked to my travel agent, she said nobody has been able to check in for a few weeks now. Something is up with the Royal Caribbean website and they are acting like there is nothing wrong. Odds are we won't be able to check in prior to our trip. She told us to expect to wait longer at the cruise ship terminal. Luckily she has been able to print out the majority of our information and get our luggage tags for us. I guess we will wait and see....

I am getting the same error on my July 16 trip. Called the number and they had to contact some other department. I was given an IT case number. Was told to wait until the end of the weekend and try again.

I would call and make sure your reservation is included in any fix they do.

I called yesterday and was on the phone for about 35 minutes. He wasn't able to help me. He said he submitted an IT ticket but did not give me a number. He said someone would contact me on Monday or Tuesday.

So annoying.

I can't access my reservation either. I get this error: We're sorry, but we are unable to retrieve your booking information at this time. For assistance, please call 866-562-7625.

It has been like this for at least two weeks. I was planning on checking in online today. My cruise leaves on July 2, I have been too busy to do it until now. Has anyone had any luck calling the number?

27! Allure

I am going on a cruise aboard Allure on July 2. A few weeks ago I made reservations for my party of 6. I was unable to link my aunt/uncle/cousin at the time because I did not have their reservation number. I figured I could just call Royal and have them add them on later....

I found that I could not link their reservation to ours on cruise planner, so I called Royal. The man said he did not have access to the reservations and couldn't tell me if a table for 9 was available at all. He said we would have to delete all of the reservations and then search day by day for a table for 9. He said it was "too risky" to drop the reservations and look for a new one for the entire group. He told me to wait untilwe get on the ship and to make reservations night off by walking up to the staff and saying "we would like a table for a party of 9...."

I find it hard to believe they can't help me resolve this PRIOR to boarding. I don't want to risk waiting until we are on the ship to get a table. I wanted to book entertainment and sit at the same table every night. When I emailed Royal (after phone call), they said there are limited reservations for parties of 9 remaining but to call dining. I feel like I'll get the same response though..

Has anyone run into this issue before? I think I may call again and ask them to help me more....

Thanks, I'll save Coba for when I visit Mexico on another trip and have more time. Hopefully we can still climb it at that time

Oh wow, yes my timing is off! And that's why I asked on here! Thanks so much for the information.

We will be in Cozumel 8-7:00 on our July 2 cruise aboard Allure. I really want to climb Coba pyramid because I read that you won't be able to climb it soon and it seems like a once in a lifetime opportunity. The rest of my family isn't interested in doing this and wants to do a beach trip instead. My bf and I were hoping to hit up the pyramids then meet up with my family at Mr. Sancho's beach club.

Based on my research it seems that it's about an hour trip from cruise ship to Coba. Not sure if we will have time to do both beach and pyramids. I don't want to spend too much time traveling.

Does anyone have any tips for me? If I do Coba, should we just take a taxi over and hire a private guide? Not sure how to go about it? Thanks in advance!:)

OMG I am kicking myself!! Yesterday cabanas were available to book online (Nellie's over the water) but I was not able to book bc site was acting weird and said my "reservation was being modified." I go on today to book and it says online booking unavailable, wait until on board!

SO mad!!!

Do you think if I call I can reserve ?

When I was on liberty two years ago they sold accessories. On adventure they sold accessories too. They overcharge but if you need it, buy it! Go pro pics come out great!

We took my little cousin off without any issues. Didn't even think of it until we were in line to get off the ship, and that's when we started to worry that we wouldn't be able to take her off.(we were meeting her parents off the ship as they had to go back to the room to grab their bag)......

My cousin handed her seapass card to the worker and much to our surprise said, "Don't worry, these aren't my parents but they aren't kidnapping me. These are my cousins, aunt and uncle"

Luckily I don't think the man understood what she was saying and we continued leaving the ship, laughing hysterically along the way:'):')

We rented two on our first visit to Labadee. I did one in my name and the other in DW name. We were the only ones in the party in suite. I did them first thing after boarding the ship, but I don't think I would chance that on an Oasis class ship.

 

You were lucky to get any response this far in advance. We have EMailed 2-3 months in advance with no response.

 

I had better luck this last year when I sent an Email three weeks in advance. Since I knew exactly what cabanas we wanted I asked for them by number. It took about a week but I got a response confirming I had them.

 

About a week later the mass Email went out to all suite holders and there were only 12 of the 20 cabanas available. I assume the other eight had already been spoken for, like I had.

Interesting. I got responses from two of the concierge fairly quickly. I asked about renting two because we have a party of 9 and they said I can just get one since one cabana can accomodate 9! YAY. So which cabanas are the best? We would like to be in a cabana over the water. I guess this is just an "Over the water cabana"

How far in advance did you book? They are telling us you can only book 1 month prior to sailing.

Well that's good news! We just don't know what we'll do if we only get one cabana.

Hi,

I have been researching a lot about renting cabanas in Labadee. I read that you can book them up to a year in advance. However, I contacted the concierge through email and they said it is too early and that I would need to email him back one month prior to my sailing (we sail on July 2, 2017).

Also, I asked him other questions which he didn't really answer, he just said he would be "happy to help closer to sailing." My other question: I know that the cabanas hold 6 people max, we have 9 in our party. We would like to rent two cabanas, but we only have 1 grand suite in our party. Do you think we could rent two?

Everything I have read about cabanas on CC says you need to book them early and you'll miss out if you wait. Did they change the rules to only book one month out now?

THanks for the help!

what do they serve for breakfast? is it different from the dining room/windjammer? Any good?

I use the hopper app- I got an alert that my flight was like $275 round trip but I was too late once I went to book. You literally have to jump on the website to book when you get the alert- sometimes it's a handful of tickets and once they're gone they're gone.

ahhh good to know because I was thinking of using it for Ft. Lauderdale flights next summer.

Just booked a boardwalk aft balcony on Allure! Very excited about this room!